ONLINE travel portal Expedia will partner with Thomas Cook India to offer free visa assistance to its clients, in a move expected to net travellers less familiar with visa application procedures.
The service is likely to appeal to first-time and younger travellers who may be at a loss when dealing with the complexities of visa applications.
Vikram Malhi, spokesperson for Expedia India, said: “We will send a person to the traveller’s home to collect documents and through our partner Thomas Cook’s help, we will get the visa done in a seamless and easy way for the traveller.
“We wanted a credible partner for visa services and that is why we picked Thomas Cook, as they have been in this market for a long time.”
Expedia expects the new service to widen their customer base to include younger travellers, having primarily catered to an older demography conversant with visa procedures. By reducing the hassle in applying for visas, the service is also predicted to spur domestic tourists to travel overseas.
Rakesh Lamba, managing director, New Delhi-based Prakriti Holidays, said: “Most first-time tourists gravitate towards offline tour operators and feel at ease with a person handling their visa paperwork and other travel needs. It’s the person-to-person contact that is reassuring and should work well for this arrangement with Thomas Cook India.”
The only other online travel portal offering a similar service is Yatra.com. MakeMyTrip and Cleartrip do not offer such free visa assistance, although visa forms are available for download on the MakeMyTrip website.
